Janet Kwasniak's blog on consciousness and the brain

All pain is not the same

A popular illustration of embodied cognition is the notion that physical pain and social pain share the same neural mechanism. The researchers that first published this relationship, have now published a new paper that finds the two types of pain do not overlap in the brain but are just close neighbours, close enough to have appeared together on the original fMRI scans. But the pattern of activity is different. The data has not changed but the method of analyzing it has produced a much clearer picture.

Neuroskeptic has a good blog on this paper and observes: “ Woo et al. have shown commendable scientific integrity in being willing to change their minds and update their theory based on new evidence. That sets an excellent example for researchers.” Have a look at the Neuroskeptic post (here).

It would probably be wise for other groups to re-examine, using multivariant analysis, similar data they have previously published.